Boston Derby Dames roller derby league a hit

Three teams and an elite travel team hold their practices on Sundays in Holbrook, where the costumes are fun but the sport’s strategic scheming and full-body contact are not for the faint of heart.

Paula Vogler

Mention the words “roller derby,” and some might remember the days when the games were on television and viewers watched the skaters zoom around a banked track in wild costumes.

The only point seemed to be to see who could hit the hardest and send the most players crumbling to the ground.

While that picture may be a distant memory from the ’70s, derby has been making a comeback.

Flat-track leagues are sprouting up all over, with at least five in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire alone. More than 300 leagues are registered worldwide, including some in faraway places such as Abu Dhabi.

Locally, three teams and an elite travel team ranked 10th in the country hold their practices on Sundays in Holbrook.

The Wicked Pissahs, Cosmonaughties, Nutcrackers and the Boston Massacre travel team are part of the Boston Derby Dames league.

The crazy costumes are still a part of the game, but the sport’s strategic scheming and full-body contact are not for the faint of heart.

Lest the fishnet stockings and tutus fool anyone, these women are out to play hard and have some fun. Players range in age from 21 to 39 and come from all sorts of backgrounds.

Sarah Murray, 24, who graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton in 2004, played soccer and track at the junior varsity level at the school, but she never considered herself a serious athlete.

After watching a friend play two years ago, Murray, known as Ivanna Shankabitch to her teammates on the Wicked Pissahs, decided to give roller derby a try.

“It’s very different than any other sport,” Murray said. “It definitely attracts a certain sort of person.”

Her teammate Lauren Morrill-Ragusea, 27, of Cambridge said the closest she came to athletics in high school was when she lettered in marching band. She figured her days of playing a team sport to stay in shape were over until she also went to a friend’s game after she graduated from college.

“It’s how I stay fit,” said Ragusea, known as Mona Mour. “I would never go to a gym every day. (Derby) is how I stay fit.”

“There’s definitely a camaraderie and it’s a good way to be athletic and active,” Murray said. “It makes you feel good about yourself. I don’t mind going home and having pizza and beer.”

In its infancy, roller derby was a coed extravaganza that started as a marathon in Chicago in 1935. The game simulated a cross-country meet where participants circled a banked track thousands of times.

While the original roller derby league went bankrupt in 1973, the sport is now attracting men, women and coed teams.

To watch these women play the sport today is a far cry from a cross-country race.

Now, five players from each team skate at a time and each jam lasts a maximum of two minutes with each bout lasting roughly one hour. There are typically three lines of skaters for each team.

Many players are sent sprawling and crashing to the floor from the blocks and hits they take.

Spectators cheer for their jammer, noted by a star on her helmet, as she rapidly weaves in and out of blockers and passes blockers on the opposing team to score points. A jammer can call off the jam at any time to prevent the opposing team from scoring more points.

Commitment is key to these new leagues as most teams practice three times a week and also have weekend bouts.

Dues of $30 per month help pay for costs to rent community centers, sports centers or any facility that will have them.

As there are very few professional leagues that pay for teams to travel, the dues also partly cover fees for the travel team.

Host teams are required to give visiting teams some sort of stipend for their travel and sometimes house opponents in their homes as well.

Teams from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Colorado are just a few of the teams that will be traveling this year to the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, where the Boston league holds its home meets.

Everyone must also serve on some sort of committee for the league whether it be communications, scheduling, coaching or sponsorship work.

“It’s like a second career,” Ragusea said, who works for a nonprofit in Boston by day. “If I retired, I don’t know what I would do.”

Movies like “Whip It” in 2009 produced a surge in girls who tried out for the league. Sixty showed up at the fall tryouts rather than the typical 40.

Murray said the “clothes-lining” of opponents and the pushing from behind portrayed in the movie are definitely not allowed in official roller-derby rules.

Officially players are allowed to hit another player from the front or the side and only between the shoulders and the mid thigh. Rules also require players to wear elbow and wrist guards, knee pads, a helmet and a mouth guard and also to carry insurance. Sometimes all the protection in the world is not enough to prevent an injury.

“There is crying in roller derby,” Ragusea said. “There’s no shame in it.”

Anyone interested in taking in a game can find information about teams and their schedules as well as tryout information at www.bostonderbydames.com.

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